Maxim studied straight A’s for all six years
Source:
Maxim Gerasimov
Do you believe that an ordinary student can earn more than 100 thousand rubles while studying at a university? It seems like a fairy tale, but such people exist. For example, UrFU student Maxim Gerasimov got 116 thousand rubles. Cool, right?
However, these impressive payments are a thing of the past. Now Maxim is a graduate student and teaches higher mathematics to first-year students at the IRIT-RTF Institute. His scholarship was sharply reduced to 11 thousand rubles, but, fortunately, there is also a salary.
Maxim Gerasimov told E1.RU why he was paid so much money and why not everyone manages to earn that much.
“Education has always come first”
— Maxim, tell me what needs to be done to get that much? Where to apply: write scientific papers?
— In the second year of my master’s degree, I received five scholarships at the same time. To this were added a scholarship from UrFU for achievements in research activities and a scholarship for an excellent student. All together – about 116 thousand rubles per month.
How did I do this? I became a student at the Department of Physics and Technology of the Institute of Physics and Technology in 2018. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2022 and a master’s degree in 2024. Both with an average score of 5.
Studying always came first. For six years I was the head of the group.
What scholarships are there at UrFU?
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The university has 16 named scholarships. Find all their types you can here.
Maxim, for example, received a scholarship from the President and Government of Russia, the President in priority areas of modernization and technological development of the economy, a scholarship named after K. A. Valiev and the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation.
Maxim moved to Yekaterinburg from Kazakhstan, and at first it was very difficult for him
Source:
Maxim Gerasimov
From the end of the second year of his undergraduate studies, he began to actively engage in scientific activities in the laboratory of radiation monitoring and solid-state dosimetry. My first mentor was Professor Sergei Nikiforov.
I performed mathematical modeling of charge transfer processes, conducted various experiments to measure thermoluminescence, processed and analyzed their results.
Over the years, I became a co-author of six scientific articles indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, as well as one monograph, presented my results at three scientific conferences – at each of them I received a diploma for the best report.
Of course, I had to work quite hard, long before I even knew about any scholarships. Work and believe that all this will be very useful to me someday…
Maxim Gerasimov
graduate student and teacher at UrFU
And it came in handy. And it continues to come in handy! This, I think, is the strength of physics and technology education.
Maxim completed his bachelor’s degree in instrumentation engineering and his master’s degree in the program “micro- and nanoelectronics materials” – both at the Department of Physical Methods and Quality Control Instruments of the Physicotechnical Institute of UrFU.
Maxim entered UrFU in 2018, and graduated with a master’s degree in 2024
Source:
Artem Ustyuzhanin / E1.RU
But that’s not all. I believe that I was lucky with the department, where I ended up in a sense by accident. I was lucky with the institute that was recommended to me. With the supervisor, mentors and teachers – with all those whom I had the opportunity to meet.
I continue to communicate well with many of them today as a graduate student and their junior colleague, and I remember others with great warmth. For me, these are the people I want to be like. People who will forever remain in my memory.
— How quickly did you manage to get such a scholarship: in a year, in two?
— The first scholarship that I began to receive when I began my master’s studies was from UrFU for achievements in research activities. The first one, from the Potanin Foundation, came to me in the second semester and became special.
Firstly, for me it was a kind of challenge to myself, a step forward. I’ve never been involved in something like this before.
Maxim Gerasimov
graduate student and teacher at UrFU
Secondly, from the point of view of its organization and conduct, it made a huge impression on me.
The remaining scholarships were added only at the beginning of the second year.
Maxim did not immediately begin to receive so much – this is the result of writing scientific papers and participating in conferences
Source:
Maxim Gerasimov
Invested money in buying an apartment
— Did you live in a dormitory? Were your classmates jealous of this scholarship?
– No, I rented a room for six years. Thanks to a good man, I had to pay quite a bit.
As for the envy of classmates, I don’t know, of course, but I’ve never felt it myself. In general, my relationships with my classmates were good, especially in the master’s program: I felt the coherence of the team, we tried to work together on common issues and cover each other’s weaknesses.
Our team was purely male, and, to be honest, even in specialized research and engineering issues, a woman’s perspective was sometimes lacking, not to mention the microclimate of the group.
— Did you save this money for anything during your student years? Maybe for travel, an apartment? Or did you spend it right away?
— Yes, almost all the money I received, with the exception of what was spent on basic needs, I invested in the purchase of an apartment that I had long dreamed of. I moved into it just a few months ago and now I’m slowly settling in.
Maxim was able to take a deep breath only in the master’s program
Source:
Vladislav Lonshakov / E1.RU
— Was there any free time left for life, hobbies?
— You can say that for the first few years my whole life was studying.
Alas, for me, a home boy who came here from a small village in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the big city in a sense became a big stress.
Maxim Gerasimov
graduate student and teacher at UrFU
Afterwards, in parallel with my studies, I became interested in computer games for some time, but I was able to feel somewhat free, to breathe deeply, only in the master’s program – and not immediately.
Perhaps, I’m still learning to live now, but in general I won’t say that I regret anything too much or, if I had the opportunity, I would change anything in the past. I think that everything is going as it should be, and then life will show.
Now Maxim himself teaches students
Source:
Maxim Gerasimov
— Was it hard to study?
– Differently. Sometimes I was tired physically, sometimes I was tired psychologically. I used to enjoy learning a lot. It may seem to some that they demanded a lot from us. Someone will probably say that they demanded even more from other students. It’s hard for me to judge.
Am I tired? Yes, sure. I was a lot nervous during the learning process.
It happened more than once that I didn’t sleep at night, doing some kind of work, working seven days a week.
Maxim Gerasimov
graduate student and teacher at UrFU
Could I have become who I am or even better without all this? Don’t know. Was everything that had to be done really necessary? This is also a difficult question.
Now I teach students myself. In some ways I now begin to understand my former teachers, in some ways I don’t—I’m trying other approaches. But it’s too early to draw conclusions, there is not enough experience. Maybe someday I’ll publish a detailed study on this matter: after all, educational engineering is interesting to me.
The graduate student is confident that he can earn even more at the university
Source:
Maxim Gerasimov
How is life going now?
— Now you are a graduate student, and you also teach at a university. Do you get the same amount or less? Are there any stipends for graduate students?
— I teach higher mathematics to first-year students at the IRIT-RTF UrFU Institute, continue to engage in scientific activities and work on a major scientific project. It is aimed at creating solar panels and energy storage devices that can operate efficiently in outer space.
In addition, I am participating in a pilot project of the Ministry of Education and Science aimed at improving the quality of teaching fundamental disciplines at Russian universities.
Among the scholarships, I currently receive only the basic scholarship for postgraduate students in scientific and technical fields – about 11 thousand rubles. But there are no problems with money.
— Do you think all students can receive that kind of money? What’s stopping them?
– I think yes, quite. Moreover, I am sure that this is not the limit, you can get more. The main thing is to follow the announcement of competitions for relevant scholarships in time, submit applications and not be afraid!
What’s stopping you? The main criteria for scholarship competitions were, one way or another, good studies and results of scientific activity.
Many students are simply not interested in doing science, and sometimes they don’t really want to study.
Maxim Gerasimov
graduate student and teacher at UrFU
People have other priorities in life, other interests, and that’s their business. They have the right.
As a teacher, I will say: there are some students who are simply lazy. You communicate with a person and see that he has the ability to master a subject, and very good ones, but he does not study. Several of my classmates were expelled from the university. Sometimes I feel very sad for these people. However, it is a personal matter for everyone what to devote most of their time to.
And yet, if you want, the main thing is to try, try, hope for the best and not be afraid of anything! Go forward and everything will work out.
Read the story of another student who received 60 thousand rubles from UrFU. At the same time, last year all scholarships for students of the largest university in the Urals were revised: they became several times smaller.
We also considered whether two students could survive on benefits if they decided to have a child. The result was ambiguous.
Read which specialties are the most expensive at Ekaterinburg universities, and also take a look at the overview of the best areas of training. And try our test about Ural student slang.
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